1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flash device, a camera device with the flash device, and a method and program thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, digital cameras have generally become widespread which use a solid-state image sensing device of a CCD type or MOS type to image a subject and store it as image data in a storage medium such as a flash memory. Most of such digital cameras are equipped with strobes (flash devices) similar to those of conventional cameras.
The strobe built in a camera is configured to step up a voltage of a battery stored in a camera main body, as is well known, and charge a main capacitor with the voltage, and at the time of picking up an image, it gives a charge stored in the main capacitor to a discharge tube (such as a xenon tube) via a trigger coil in accordance with a trigger signal, so as to discharge it to emit light. In addition, a capacitance of the main capacitor is about 50 μF to 200 μF, which fluctuates depending on a difference in an amount of light which is to be emitted by the strobe.
Furthermore, if the voltage of the main capacitor becomes lower than a voltage that enables light emission, most of the digital cameras generally restart charging so that the strobe light can always be emitted. The charge given to the main capacitor is maintained in a state stored in the main capacitor even after a power switch of the camera is turned off, and is lost due to natural discharge as time passes (refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-122130).